CineGrain

In the world of pristine HD picture quality, it is often difficult to get a more grittier film look; Adding film grain in post is often a difficult task with various techniques used. However, there is now an easier and more efficient way to get the desired look you are searching for.

CineGrain provides you with the tools you need to get that coveted filmic grain look. CineGrain has a Personal, Professional, and Indie Filmmaking collections of clips. These clips come in 2k and 1080p, jammed packed up to 400 different clips depending on your purchase package. These clips come shipped to on a small USB SSD hard drive that fits in the palm of your hands.

CineGrain supports both PC and Mac, and I have been testing it out in both Avid Media Composer 6 and Final Cut Pro 7.

Once you open up the folders on the drive you can see there are clips for 2k and 1080p resolutions, and there are subfolders for various looks such as 35mm, 16mm, 8mm, Lens flares, and other looks.

Importing them into Final Cut Pro 7 is easily done. Once there simply drop the desired look on to the timeline above the clip you wish to add the effect to. Then to see your results simply right click the CineGrain clip , scroll down to Composite Mode and click Overlay. Instantly, in the canvas you can now see the CineGrain look applied. You can change the intensity of your look with the Contrast slider within filters tab. This works incredibly well. Just remember to render to see your full playback quality.

Below you can see a how my image looks with a Before and After I applied CineGrain Lens Flare within Final Cut Pro 7

Avid Media Composer 6 has a slightly different workflow. At first I tried to use the Key Effect within Avid to get my desired look. However this provided me with less than stellar results. Thankfully I was reminded by the twitter community, specifically Ryan Hardison, that AvidFX has a composite mode built in.

Using AvidFX with CineGrain provided me with much better results than the keying. It also allowed me to have greater control over the effect giving me the tools I need to customize my look. AvidFX Ram Preview allows me to see how my effect will look before I apply to the timeline. It’s very similar to After Effects ram preview for those of you on Adobe.

Below You can see the before and after the CineGrain Effect is applied within Avid.

CineGrain is a fantastic way to get the desired film look without banging your head against the wall. CineGrian also save a great deal of time, as you can get your desired look in a matter of moments without the need to jump into other suites or use several video layers. The addition of 2k support is great for those of you working with RED cameras or are finishing 2k to later be transferred. CineGrain comes in different packages depending on your budget for either Personal, Professional or Indie.